San Diego County Public Law Library E-Newsletter

Law Library Justice Foundation Trustee Dian Black Honored by City Council Our new Law Library Justice Foundation Trustee, Dian Black, will be honored by the San Diego City Council with a resolution proclaiming June 5, 2007, as "Dian Black Day" in the City of San Diego. Dian will be commended for the countless hours of community volunteer work that she has given the City of San Diego. Dian has been a long time advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, with a focus on privacy rights. All her work has been done pro bono, with the purpose of helping pro pers assist themselves in navigating the complex legal system. Dian has donated time and research to the submittal of fifteen different proposals that were eventually passed into state or local law; and she has drafted state legislation protecting home owner insurance policyholders after the Cedar Fires that were incorporated in AB 1640 and SB 518, which were eventually passed into law.

Law Week Summary This year the San Diego County Public Law Library reached over 520 people through our Law Week activities! Both the East County Branch and the North County Branch hosted free law clinics, offering free general legal advice to over 85 people. Our Special Speaker events were also well attended with a combined participation of over 85 attendees at the Main and North County Branches. The Legal Resources Knowledge Fairs continue to grow with the participation of more legal service providers. Thanks for making this year such a great success, we look forward to providing even more services and events in 2008!

New California Case Management System The San Diego Superior Court is in the process of implementing a new statewide case management system (known as CCMS V3) for Civil, Small Claims, and Probate. The system is currently operating in the Central Division Small Claims-Kearny Mesa, the Small Claims Appeals section of the Downtown Courthouse, North County Civil and Small Claims, and will go live in the Hall of Justice, Main Courthouse Downtown, East, South, and Probate locations by mid-May 2007. One major change that will go into effect as each court implements the new system is a new case number format. The standardized statewide case number format is as follows: 37-YYYY-00000519-CC-CT-LLL - 37 - 2 digit numeric court code, which is the court code that designates the case as originating in San Diego - YYYY - 4 digit numeric code for the calendar year the case is initiated - 00000519 - 8 digit numeric sequence number that identifies each case - CC - Case category representing Civil Limited (CL), Civil Unlimited (CU), Small Claims (SC), and Probate (PR) - CT - Case type representing the specific case type within the Case Category - such as Small Claims (SC), Breach of Contract (BC), Collections (CL), and Unlawful Detainer (UD) - LLL - Location where the case is managed - Central (CTL), North (NC), East (EC) or South (SC) The court requires all 21 digits when filing documents or corresponding with the court as the 8 digit case numbers will repeat at the beginning of each calendar year. The last 6 digits provide information that expedites document processing. When conducting business with the Sheriff's Department, use only the first 14 digits (example: 37-2007-00000519). For cases Filed PRIOR to implementation of the new Case Management System in Each Site, the existing case numbers will remain and are referred to as a Legacy case number. A Legacy case number includes a 2 or 3 digit alpha code, followed by a 6 digit numeric sequence number as follows: SC123130 or GIN032366 Filers will continue to use Legacy case numbers if previously assigned by the court for all court filings, correspondence, and filings with the Sheriff's Department and other applicable agencies.

Did You Know That The Law Library is a Brief Depository? The San Diego County Law Library maintains a large collection of California Appellate Briefs from ALL SIX DISTRICTS. If you know of a prior case that has similar legal issues to your current case, you can look at the Appellate Briefs to see what legal arguments were made to the court and what case law was cited. This can be helpful in the research process and also help you frame your issues for litigation or appeal. Selected California Appellate Court Briefs are available for the following time period: 1969-1996 : In microform or print. 1996 - present: In microform or through our CRS West Brief Service Database Briefs in print and microfiche are located at the Main Branch. Access to Briefs through our CRS Brief Service database is accessible at all Law Library Branches. Note: Our Brief depository does not purport to be exhaustive and is therefore considered to be incomplete. Paper briefs were sent to the Library directly from the various courts, and our early microform collection originated from the paper briefs. The library may not receive all briefs for all cases. Therefore, there are gaps in the library's holdings. You can call the Reference desk at 619-685-6552 to verify the availability of briefs. Briefs available on microform can be viewed and printed at the Main Library. Photocopies from microform and paper Briefs cost 15 cents per page. Paper and microfiche Briefs do not circulate, but copies can be ordered through our document delivery service. Briefs available through our database service can be downloaded to a flash drive for free or printed for 20 cents per page. In order to find a Brief you will most likely need the docket number. However, case reporter citation, party names, date and district are also useful and can be used to look up the docket number here at the Library.

News From The North Law Week Celebration a Success! The North County branch was bustling with activities during Law Week. In addition to our annual Law Day Open House, we held our second Legal Resource Knowledge Fair and our first Law Week Free Legal Clinics. The law library also received proclamations from the cities of Oceanside and Vista proclaiming May 1st Law Day in their cities. The two day Free Legal Clinics were sponsored by the Bar Association of North San Diego County. Local attorneys, members of the Bar Association of North San Diego County, volunteered their time to provide free consultations in the areas of Family Law, Civil Litigation, Estate Planning, Real Estate, and Criminal Law. Thanks to the following volunteer attorneys who made our first ever Law Week Free Legal Clinics a success: Katie Anderson, Marian Birge, Mary Cataldo, Mark Chambers, Kelly Doblado, Sylvia Garcia, Erin Guzman, Jeffy Lacy, Jennifer Lacy, Tom Penfield, Michelle Shipp, and Wayne Templin. A huge thank you to Deborah Bayus for recruiting and coordinating the volunteers. We would also like to thank Paul Campo for his role in the law library receiving the Law Day proclamation from the city of Vista. For the record, the free legal clinic resulted in fifty-five consultations. Not bad for our first clinic. This year we again partnered with the San Diego County Superior Court for our second Legal Resource Knowledge Fair. Many thanks to all of the agencies that provided material on legal services they have available and special thanks to the agency volunteers who helped at the Knowledge Fair: Moises and Susan from Lifeline, Laura and Jennifer from SDVLLP, and Joanna T. from Juvenile Probation. On Law Day, we had an MCLE presentation, "Technology & Time Sharing: Virtual Visitation and Other Innovations in Child Custody Plans", given by attorney-author Dawn Bradley Berry. Dawn is the author of The Divorce Sourcebook. Last, but not least, special thanks to attorney Laura Akers for her generous donation of patriotic decorations. The red, white, and blue decorations added to the festive atmosphere as we celebrated Law Week.

Website of the Month www.convert-me.com This website has conversion calculators for just about everything! Did you ever want to know how many kilometers are in a mile? (answer: 1.609 km) How much does four cups of water weigh? (answer: 2.068 lbs) Some of the more popular conversion calculators on this site include: Distance and length, capacity and volume, temperature, cooking, fractions and percent, and currency. If there is a conversion calculator that you use often, this website has a feature where you can put a conversion gadget on your Google homepage or desktop. That way you won't have to open the website to perform conversions. Check it out!

June & July Classes Members of the public may sign up for these classes by calling (619) 531-3900. The Classes are free to Law Library members and are $5 for non-members. Participants may bring lunch. Pre-registration is required, as seating is limited. Tuesday, June 5th 12:30 -1:30pm Using Lexis* Wednesday, June 6th 3-4pm Learn About the Legal Aid Society of San Diego Saturday, June 9th 2-3pm Law Made Public Thursday, June 14th 12-1:30pm California Civil Procedure Before Trial: What they didn't teach you in Law School* (New Bar Admittees or Attorney members Only) Wednesday, June 20th, 4-5pm How to Make Ethical & Winning Use of Legislative History in Construing the Intent of a California Statute* Special Guest Speaker, Carolina Rose, Legislative Research Inc. Tuesday, July 3rd, 10-11am Using OnLAW* Wednesday, July 11th, 12-1pm Identity Theft: Avoid Being A Victim* Special Guest Speaker, FBI Special Agent Lamont Siller Saturday, July 21st, 2-4pm Practical Legal Research Thursday, July 26th, 12:30-1:30pm Using Westlaw* For a complete description of the classes go to our calendar of events page and click on the month, then class for details. * MCLE credit available. The San Diego County Public Law Library is a State Bar of California Approved MCLE provider.

New Books Added To The Collection The following is a selection of books or new editions recently added to our collection: CALIFORNIA MOTIONS TO TERMINATE CIVIL CASES BY DONNA BADER Thomson/West., c2007. KFC1021.M6 B3 2007. Main Library and North County COASTAL AND OCEAN MANAGEMENT LAW IN A NUTSHELL BY DONNA R. CHRISTIE, RICHARD G. HILDRETH 3rd. ed., St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West, 2007 - KF5627.Z9 C48 2007. Main Library only THE COMPLETE IEP GUIDE: HOW TO ADVOCATE FOR YOUR SPECIAL ED CHILD BY LAWRENCE M. SIEGEL 5th ed. Berkeley, CA: Nolo, 2007 KF4209.3.Z9 S57 2007. Main Library, North County, East County CONSENT TO TREATMENT: A PRACTICAL GUIDE BY FAY A. ROZOVSKY 4th ed., New York: Aspen Publishers, 2007- KF3827.I5 R69. Main Library only FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS MANUAL: A MANUAL ON PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES BY DAVID G. KNIBB. 5th ed., St. Paul, Minn: Thomson/West, 2007. KF9052 .K54 2007. Main Library and North County FORMING AND OPERATING CALIFORNIA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES BY GARY L. BRADUS [ET AL.]. 2nd ed., Oakland, Calif.: Continuing Education of the Bar: Regents of the University of California, c2007- KFC339.Z9 F67 2007. All Library locations GILSON ON TRADEMARKS [previous title: Trademark protection and practice] BY ANNE GILSON LALONDE ; KARIN GREEN, ASSISTANT EDITOR ; JEROME GILSON, ORIGINAL AUTHOR FROM 1974-2005. Newark, NJ : LexisNexis, 1974- KF3180 .G542. Main Library only HANDLING UNLAWFUL DETAINERS: HERE\'S HOW AND WHEN TO DO IT BY DAVID M. GUREWITZ, WENDY ST. JOHN. Oakland, Calif.: Continuing Education of the Bar, [c2007]. KFC1028.E9 G83 2007. All Library locations INSURANCE CLAIMS AND DISPUTES: REPRESENTATION OF INSURANCE COMPANIES AND INSUREDS BY ALLAN D. WINDT. 5th ed.[Eagan, MN]: Thomson/West, 2007- KF1164 .W56 2007. Main Library only LEGAL ETHICS IN A NUTSHELL BY RONALD D. ROTUNDA. 3rd ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson/West [c2007]. KF306.Z9 R688 2007. All Library locations MARITAL DEDUCTION SUBTRUST FUNDING: HERE\'S HOW AND WHEN TO DO IT BY DAVID B. GAW. Oakland, CA: Regents of the University of California, c2007. KFC210.A1 G39 2007. Main Library, North County and East County THE OF COUNSEL AGREEMENT: A GUIDE FOR LAW FIRM AND PRACTITIONER BY HAROLD G. WREN, BEVERLY J. GLASCOCK 3rd ed., Chicago: Senior Lawyers Division, American Bar Association, c2005 KF310.O34 W74 2005. Main Library only PRACTICE REFERENCE GUIDE TO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND INTENT RESEARCH BY LEGISLATIVE INTENT SERVICE, INC. Woodland, CA: Legislative Intent Service, Inc., 2007- KFC74 .P73 2007. Main Library only

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